Girl and Boy
by Reilynn
Summary: Comb 2 challenges from DA Reflections Rewrite a S2 episode S1 style and Write in August Weatherly. Gill Girl, what is left of it, S1 style. Brittney gets a little brother. Good clean fun, unless you count the mess they leave in Logan,s kitchen
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer**: No infringement intended. Not affiliated in any way with anyone. Net worth still a negative number. Nothing to sue here people, move along.

* * *

**Full Title**: um …Girl …and a Boy. 

**Summary:** Combining two challenges from DA Reflections. "Rewrite a S2 episode S1 style" and "Write in a part for August Weatherly." I chose Gill Girl, but lets face it, after I took out the parts I didn't like, there wasn't really much left. So Brittany gets a brother, played by August. Good clean fun, unless you count the mess they leave in Logan's kitchen when he isn't paying attention to him.

**Brief note:** Without the )$)& virus it is **much** easier for Logan to get Max to come over.

Maria656 said she wanted more kids. Here they are:

* * *

Original Character:

Brandon Cale – Played by August Weatherly.

* * *

The phone ringing at 7:16 am woke Logan Cale up. He had been up until almost 3 am, trying to put together evidence against the Sparacino crime syndicate. Logan's "Hello?" was obviously groggy.

"I forgot that you bohemian types never get up in the morning," said the familiar female voice on the other end of the line.

"I get up in the morning. Just not …" Logan fumbled for his clock "SEVEN AM! This better be important!"

"It is _incredibly_ important. I have to be at the courthouse at eight o'clock. I need your help." She pleaded.

"I can't imagine how I fit into this, Bitsy. It's too early for this .."

"I need to drop off Brittany and Brandon for …well, I don't know how long. I can't take them into the courthouse. Amy is sick. I can't find another babysitter on such short notice. We haven't been able to afford a nanny since the whole hoverdrone fiasco started. I know that's been hard on you too…"

Logan winced silently. This was his fault. Watching two little kids for a few hours was the least he could do for his family. How hard could it be? "Fine. How long until you get here?"

"I can be there in couple of minutes. Thank you!"

"Make it ten. It takes me awhile to get dressed." Logan hated being reminded of his disability, but Bitsy seemed completely oblivious.

"Thank you," she said.

Logan hung up the phone and went to go get himself ready for the siege, still comfortably oblivious to how accurate his grim thought were.

* * *

Brittany was six years old. Brandon was four years old. Logan had no idea what he was in for. Bitsy hadn't been gone for ten minutes when Logan paged backup.

"It's me," said Max.

"Max, are you there? Can you come over?" Logan asked desperately.

"Sure. You OK?"

"I've got a situation."

"Are you ok?"

"I can hold out until you get here, but" There is a sound of something crashing. "Oh, God, no! Hurry!" Logan drops the phone and wheels away.

* * *

_Seven minutes later._

Max burst into Logan's apartment. "Logan! Logan!" She called frantically.

The first thing that Max encountered was Logan's wheelchair, tipped over in the front room. The wheel was spinning ominously and Max felt an unfamiliar and uncomfortable emotion rise in her.

"Max?" Max immediately followed Logan voice to the sofa, where he was laying on the floor, partially under a sheet. "Thank God!"

"Are you OK? What happened?"

"I'm outnumbered!" he acknowledged weakly.

A little boy that looked remarkably like Logan peeked his head out from under the sheet. Max eyes grew wide as she noted the obvious resemblance.

"Uncle Logan!" a little girl emerged from the other end of the sheets.

"Max, this is Brittany and Brandon, my cousins. I need your help!" Logan begged.

"Are you nuts? MY help? Are you expecting an attack?"

"No. Max, please, I can't do this by myself."

"You agreed to it by yourself!"

"I tried to get out of it. Max, I don't know how to take care of kids."

"And I do?" Max nearly shouted. "I know zip about kids!" Max's voice dropped to a whisper. "You may not have picked up on this, but I didn't exactly have a _normal_ childhood."

"It's OK. They aren't that young. We just have to …referee, and don't let them leave. You know first aid, in case something happens. I'll fix us all lunch and" Logan's cell phone rang, only his Eyes Only contacts had that number and they both knew it. "Sorry." Logan said, as he gave Max his best smile and slunk out of the room leaving her with two small children staring at her suspiciously.

"Hi," Max tried. They stared at her, wary. Max sighed. She could do this. She was supposed to be an officer. How hard could a unit of two be? 'course they probably had no discipline. She could hear Logan talking to his informant on the other line. She couldn't expect any backup on this one. Still, how bad could it be?

* * *

_Many, many hours later._

Bitsy knocked on the door, but received no reply. After a few moments of hearing squeals, thuds, and the occasional unidentified (but disturbing) noise from inside Bitsy opened the door and let herself in. The first thing she noticed was that the apartment, which was immaculate this morning, was a disaster area. Chairs were overturned. The flower vase was on the floor. Its flowers scattered. The message table was on its side. The area where the sofa was this morning appeared to be some sort of sheet/tent city. She was not entirely certain, but several of the pictures look …upside down. How the heck could two small children have possibly caused so much chaos by _themselves_?

Bitsy's contemplation of the ruin was interrupted by the thundering stampede she heard approaching her position. She turned to her right just in time to watch Max run down the hall at a truly alarming speed, carrying Brandon in her arms. Bitsy gasped as it appeared that Max is going to run into the wall, then dropped her purse and stared in horror as Max ran up the wall, flipped over the top of Brittany, who was chasing her. Brandon took the whole escapade in stride yelling "Beep, Beep!" gleefully. Max crouched to take off again, when she noticed Bitsy.

"Oop. We are busted, kids." She looked at Bitsy and smiled. "Hi! You must be Mom."

Bitsy just stood in the hall, gasping, one hand on her throat, and the other over her heart. She opened her mouth, as if trying to speak, but no words formed.

"Mom!" Brittany dropped whatever shiny object she had in her hand and ran over to her Mother.

"Mommy! We were playing road runner!" yelled Brandon joyfully.

Bitsy found her voice as she knelt to embrace her daughter. "I see. Where's Logan?"

"Sitting at his computer," Max replied. She tilted her head as she considered Bitsy, "You don't know Logan very well, do you?"

"Logan just left them alone?" Bitsy asked, clearly beginning to become upset.

"Kind of." Max replied. "I did warn him I didn't know anything about kids. He said all I had to do was keep them from leaving. And keep the injuries to a minimum."

"No boo boos," added Brandon with a cute baby grin.

"Right." Bitsy asked, tensely. "Thanks. Where is Logan?"

Max pointed to the computer room.

"You know I think I might need a little of your help for my revenge."

"Worse than when he sees his kitchen?" Max asked, shocked. "You're vicious. I like that!" Max smiled at her.

"I think I like you." Bitsy finally smiled.

"We could hide. Pretend he **lost** us!" Brittany suggests gleefully.

"He he"

TBC


	2. Hide and Seek and Destroyed

**Disclaimer**: No infringement intended. Not affiliated in any way with anyone. Net worth still a negative number. Nothing to sue here people, move along.

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**Chapter 2:** Hide and Seek and Destroyed

Logan was sitting at his computer array. Most of the screens were off. His headset was on and he was thoroughly absorbed in _whatever_ he was working on.

Bitsy tapped him on the shoulder. He quickly tabbed away from the window, removed the headset, and turned to face Bitsy. "You're back early. It's only …" Logan was smiling until he actually checked his watch. "Uh oh."

Bitsy glared at him, arms crossed, foot tapping firmly. "**Where** are my **children**?"

"Umm," Logan stared up at her. "Oh, no."

Bitsy just stared at Logan, watching him squirm, taping her foot.

"They are around here somewhere. Max would have told me if they were going someplace."

"Max?" Bitsy glared at him. "Glad you could find a babysitter on short notice. Very resourceful of you."

'You have no idea,' Logan thought. "Max!" he called.

There was a faint giggling from the front room. Logan tried smiling at Bitsy, who glared at him for a moment. She turned on her heel and marched into the front room when she couldn't keep a straight face any more.

"Brandon! Brittany!" she called. Bitsy followed the giggling to the tiny tent city. Logan took an awfully long look around the front room and wondered if he could have worked straight through an attack. Logan couldn't _see_ any bullet holes. Gunfire would have been loud enough he would have heard it even through the headphones, wouldn't it have? Not if they had silencers. Damn. Nah, he finally concludes, Max could have handled an attack.

"So, does 'Max' have much experience babysitting?" Bitsy glared at him.

"No." It was all Logan could think to say as he looked around at the devastation.

It was all Bitsy could do to keep a straight face. Logan looked so …dumbfounded. She had never seen her brilliant, opinionated, stubborn, cousin so at a complete loss. She'd never even _heard_ of Logan being at a loss for words. No one was going to believe this.

"He he," Brandon giggled delightedly, still in Bitsy's arms.

Logan snapped out of his shock when the flash went off.

"Mom's always have a camera," Bitsy explained.

"Ah hah!" and a very high pitched scream came from behind Logan. Logan jumped. Bitsy snapped another picture.

Logan turned his wheelchair around and glared at Max who was approaching him carrying Brittany. "Max," he said warily.

"I caught this intruder trying to get into the main computer, Sir!" Max held Brittany upside down with one hand and saluted with another. Brittany was squealing delightedly. Bitsy was laughing silently behind Logan, regretting she couldn't see the look on his face while he just sat there, speechless.

"Let me fix you something to eat." Logan tried quickly.

"I'm full!" declared Brittany. Logan looked like he was going to be ill.

"What did you cook them for lunch, Max?" Logan asked.

"Max doesn't cook! **Cales** cook!" Brandon declared triumphantly.

Logan looked pretty ill. "Uh oh," slipped out before Logan could stop it.

"Really, you think?" Bitsy asked, apparently quite upset.

"Well, what did you do for lunch? You let Brandon cook?" Logan accused Max.

"Depends…on what you consider cooking." Max answered with a nonchalant shrug.

"We killed wild chips. We found a whole herd!" squealed Brandon.

"But we only kill what we need!" Brittany declared solemnly, as if she where dispensing the wisdom of ages.

"That right!" Max confirmed.

"Been teaching them the ways of the forest?" Bitsy asked. Max shrugged again.

"You had chips for lunch?" Logan asked, even though he really didn't want to know the answer.

"Not _just_ chips." Max replied.

"We ambushed cookies, too!" Brittany added.

"Ambushed?" Logan looks at Max.

"Yep. They set up at the doorway, one on either side." Max motioned dramatically at doorway. "We knew that this was the cookies natural migration path, so it was just a matter of time."

Logan looked down at the floor. There was indeed the remains of a package of cookies, and a **large** crumb trail, all over the floor.

"Cookies too," said Brandon.

"You had chips and a bag of cookies for lunch?" asked Bitsy.

"Well that's not all." Logan was relieved when Max said that, until she continued. "They told you. **Two** bags of cookies." Logan actually groaned at that. If they were the ones that pigged out on junk food why was he the one feeling sick to his stomach?

"Anything else?"

"Soda."

Max and Bitsy made sure that they walked into the kitchen in front of Logan. He was in shock at seeing his kitchen in such a state of disarray that he didn't even notice Bitsy had turned off her flash and was snapping more pictures. There were empty soda cans strewn about. Wooden spoons, spatulas and assorted cooking tools lined up along the floor like they were marking a runway. An empty bottle of wine in a circle of flowers.

"Max?" Logan pointed to the bottle of wine.

"Empty when we found it." Max held up her hands in a universal gesture innocence.

"We spun the bottle. Michael at school said **he** played spin the bottle and it was cool, but Max doesn't know how to play. Do you know the rules?" asked Brittany.

Max shrugged and gave her best innocent look. "Never heard of it." Max smiled and cocked her head. "Have you?" she turned and looked at Logan. Logan just glared at her.

"I think they know and just won't tell us." Brittany pouted.

"You could be right about that." Max replied in a stage whisper. She nodded at Brittany. Brittany smiled back.

"That is what all three of you ate?" Logan asked.

"Even you?" Bitsy asked Max, not believing an adult could be so irresponsible, well not with _that_ figure anyway.

"Yep!" Max replied.

'Life just sucks,' thought Bitsy. "I guess that explains the running around."

"Roadrunners like cookies. Beep. Beep." Brandon declared.

"On the bright side, they should sleep tonight." Max said.

"Max is really fast!" Brittany said.

Logan looks at Max. Max smiled. "Well I am, probably, the fastest runner here." Logan sighed.

Bitsy let out an overly dramatic sigh. "Speaking of running, we do need to get going."

They all walked to the front door. Bitsy tried to sound casual when she said "They really like you, Max. You're better with kids than you give yourself credit for. … So when are the two of you planning on having kids?"

Logan was about to laugh when he saw Max smile at him thoughtfully and the only reply she had for Bitsy was a thoughtful sounding "Hmmmm."

Logan's jaw dropped. Bitsy's camera snapped six pictures before Logan's expression turned angry. "Damn it, Bitsy!"

"Bad words!" scolded Brandon.

Logan, duly chastised, took a deep breath before he continued. "Bitsy, I don't deserve this from you. I was trying to doing you a favor. On less than four hours of sleep."

"You were? Gosh, it seemed like you just brushed the kids off on Max. Whom you called for 'help' with absolutely no clue why you needed help"

"You did give me quite a scare when you just dropped the phone like that."

"Fine!" Logan conceded. "Max is the one with a right to be mad at me, not you."

"Of course, Logan." Bitsy replied. "Max, how many copies do you want?"

"How about one of each?" Max said with a smile.

"Sure, pick 'em up anytime tomorrow. I should be home all day. Thanks. For everything." Bitsy smiled at Max and waved.

"Goodbye, Max!" The children chorused, they added "Bye Uncle Logan!" only after Max covertly pointed at him.

The door shut and the silence was deafening.

"Why didn't you come get me to fix lunch?"

"I tried. Three times, you were on a phone call."

He was. He remembered that now. He had abandoned Max after she had come over the help him. He screwed up, again. One of these days she was going to be fed up with him. "I cannot believe this." He said looking around at the mess. He deserved this. It was the _least_ he deserved. He only hoped that after he spent a week cleaning this up that Max would consider his debt paid in full. It would take him a week, too. For the umpteenth time, he cursed the chair and his own disability.

"You knew I had no idea how to take care of kids."

"Well, yes, but …" Logan managed to stop himself before he brought up the fact that she was that age once. Max may have been six at some point, but she wasn't ever a child, not really. Logan Cale didn't do anything small, not even screw up, he thought cynically.

"I'm sorry." They said it in unison, each startling the other.

"'bout what?" They asked. Logan got a frustrated look on his face. Max was simply amused.

"Agreeing to watch the kids when I knew ...should've known I couldn't handle it. She called before I had any coffee. I was up until three."

"No big dealio. I'm sorry about the mess. Go to bed. I'll have it cleaned up for you by the time you get up." She turned and skipped into the kitchen, leaving a very puzzled Logan Cale behind her.

Logan knew he must be seriously over tired, because he couldn't figure out what was going on here. He wheeled into the kitchen after Max. Once he got there, he sat and watched her in amazement. The dishwasher was open. Spoons and spatulas were flying across the room to land in perfect place inside of it. Well, almost all of them. She moved so fast he could barely see her individual movements although they were obviously executed with precision. He just sat there staring at her. For the umpteenth time he was amazed by her grace and beauty.

She was done with the kitchen in five minutes. She finally noticed him staring at her. "What?"

"I was just …wondering … what …I mean. When you said you were sorry. I can't imagine why." Logan was pretty pleased with his fast thinking there.

"About the mess, Logan." Max repeated. He must be more tired than Max thought.

"We thrashed your place. You always keep it so …perfect and …we thrashed it. I'm sorry. I …we just weren't thinking about it. Y'know? We watched cartoons, the road runner. They were just so happy running around, jumping over the sofa. We made a race track." Max motioned to where the spoon line used to be. "I wasn't thinking. I was just ..."

"Playing." Logan finished for her. "That's fine, Max. Hadn't you ever done that before?"

Max shrugged. "Not like they encouraged it at Manticore. After that, it wasn't safe to … I probably shouldn't have."

Logan felt a strange warmth that his home was the only safety she'd ever known. "You should play more often."

"Really?"

"Really."

"So what's the dealio with this 'spinning the bottle' thing?"

Logan stared at Max, standing scant inches from him, empty bottle in hand. 'Could she really not know?' he thought.

"Actually, what I was thinking is that if I can get Bitsy to forgive me, and I swear to fix a real lunch, maybe we can have them over again. Maybe go to the zoo."

"The zoo?"

"They reopened last May. I hear they have a goat now."

"You have a more exotic creature in your apartment right now." Max said. 'That you obviously aren't interested in playing with,' Max thought sadly. "Better go clean up the rest of the place, since you obviously don't want to share your wisdom." Max smiled wistfully and put the empty bottle in the recycling bin.

If Logan hadn't been so tired, he would have objected to her calling herself a creature. It was one of many missed opportunities that he would eventually, deeply regret.

* * *

The End?

Nah! Next chapter: At the zoo!


	3. At the Zoo

**Disclaimer**: No infringement intended. Not affiliated in any way with anyone. Net worth is still a negative number. Nothing to sue here people, move along.

* * *

**Girl and Boy **

**Chapter 3**

**At the Zoo**

* * *

"Someone told me there is a clown!" Brittany shouted gleefully. 

"And face painting!" Brandon exclaimed.

"Balloon animals!"

"Elephant ears!"

"Cookies!"

"Monkey bars, too! Right, Mommy?"

"Yes, Kids. It's all happening at the zoo. Now calm down!" Bitsy tried to calm down her children.

"Yeah, calm down. Uncle Logan doesn't believe you!" Brittany scolded Brandon.

"I do believe it," Logan reassured Brandon as the little boy crawled into Logan's ever present lap.

"It's true! You believe me, don't you, Unca Logan?" Brandon asked with big puppy dog eyes.

"I do believe it's true!" Logan reassured the young boy. Brandon smiled up at him.

"I really appreciate you taking them with you to the grand reopening at the zoo. How did you ever get tickets?"

"Actually Max got the tickets." Logan said. "Um, experience indicates it's best not to ask how." Max just smiled.

Bitsy smiled and nodded. Logan knew that she was assuming that Max had connections with the vast underground economy within the city. That wasn't even a tiny fraction of the truth, but Bitsy certainly didn't need to know that.

"Do they really need all this stuff?" Max asked as she looked at the bags that Bitsy had prepared for the trip. "We are only going to be gone a couple of hours."

"It's never a light journey with children and I want you too encumbered for tumbling." Bitsy smiled.

Max seriously considered showing off, but let it slide.

"It's easier if you come from the east side into the parking lot," Max volunteered.

"I am doing just fine, Max!" In truth Logan was more than a little irritated at the traffic. The one good thing to come from the gas shortage, and the prices of gas when it was available, was that there were not usually traffic jams. Apparently the re-opening really was something special. Logan reminded himself to remember he was lucky to have Max as backup on this little adventure, and, in truth, lucky to share this with her.

"I OK?" asks Brandon.

"You look fine, sweetie." Max reassured him.

"How do I look?" asked Brittany, twirling her expensive frilly best dress.

"Fancy!" Max smiled.

Logan finished assembling his wheelchair. "Everyone ready?" he asked as he finished transferring.

Max hung a backpack over the back of Logan's chair, dropped another large bag on his lap and swung a third over her shoulder. "Ready! Let's … ramble!" Max smiled.

"To the zoo!" cried Brandon.

"We can take the bus!" Brittany pointed excitedly to the bus.

Max noticed Logan looking at the blue cross town bus with the oddest look on his face.

"No, Brittany. It will be faster to walk." Max told her.

"What if it's raining?"

"It's not raining."

"It's cold," complained Brandon. Logan scoped up the boy and rested him on his lap and put his coat on. Max smiled at him being all paternal.

"I want Twinkie!" Brandon said.

"It would be better for you if we threw those to the bears or whatever." Logan commented grimly.

"And the animals will love it," Max said, then paused as Logan stared at her. "If you do …did." She frowned, uncertain what was bothering Logan.

"Somethin' tells me it's going to be crowded." Max said as she looked at all the signs proclaiming the events of the day. The clown was to the right. The face painting was straight ahead. The balloon animals were to the right. Food was to the left.

"I told you!" Brandon said from his perch on Logan's lap.

"It's all happening at the zoo, folks! Come and see it!" said the unidentified man passing out brochures.

Max accepted a brochure, but hesitated at the odd look on Logan's face.

They started off to the left. The first exhibit they came to was the Monkey house. The kids were laughing at the antics. Max read the commemorative inscription. "This exhibit is dedicated to the loving memory of Simon Standford, whose shining example of community service and honesty will always be remembered."

They next stop was the Giraffes. The giraffes kept sticking their tongues out at the visitors. Brittany said that they wanted the Twinkies, but Logan insisted they didn't really mean it.

"You mean they are lying to us?" Brittany challenged.

"No. They are just … insincere." Logan had huge grin and Max really wished she knew what the joke was.

The elephant house was next. There were two elephants. The zookeeper was giving a slightly slurred lecture explaining about the breeding program they were hoping to participate it.

"We have had James, our seven year old African elephant, for three years now. Tasha is a new arrival for the grand reopening. They seem to be getting along together very well, but there hasn't been any indication that they are interested in each other, romantically."

"Maybe they just don't know what to do?" some man in the crowd volunteered.

"They're dumb," the zookeeper acknowledged just before another zoo official came and escorted him away.

"Did he smell like rum to you?" Logan asked Max.

Max sniffed the air. "Could be. I'm amazed you could tell over .." she gestured to the elephants. Logan just chuckled softly.

They walked the back of the monkey house on the way to the Africa Savannah exhibit. There was one empty cage with a hand written sign. Max read it aloud. "George and Lucy, our Asian Orangutans have not become accustomed to the new trees added for the grand opening. Hopefully they will adjust and be out soon."

A rather large, bald man was looking at the empty cages. "Well," he said, "I suppose if fifteen foot tall trees suddenly appeared in my front yard I would be a little skeptical of the changes, too."

Logan had to wonder if the sign was true, or a joke.

The Africa Savannah exhibit included a lion, zebras and antelopes. The single female lion was in a mostly concrete cage. Max read the sign. Logan talked about how there used to be a whole pride of lions here.

"Maybe they can borrow her a boyfriend for a while. Wouldn't take long. Lions are smarter than the elephants." Max smiled. She considered winking at Logan, but decided not to in front of the kids.

They had just gotten to the zebra pen, when the lion roared. The zebras (both of them) ran around their pen for a little while.

"Wow, they sure reacted to that!" Brittany said.

"A lion's roar can be heard up to five miles away. I bet the Antelopes freaked out too." Max said.

"Why?" Brandon asked.

"The cartilage in his throat, called the Hyoid structure, ossifies into bone. Happens in all the big cats; it's what distinguishes the roaring from the meowing of…." Max's voice trailed off when she realized they were staring at her.

"The lion scares the zebra and the antelope because in the wild, lions eat antelope and zebra." Logan calmly explained to Brandon.

"That's not nice." Brittany offered.

"The antelopes should convince the lions to eat grass too." Brandon said.

Max and Logan both laughed softly, each for their own reasons.

"I don't think that the antelopes would have much luck converting the lions to herbivore-ism." Max said.

They visited all the exhibits, and then had lunch in a large open space of grass. Brittany and Brandon feed the birds the crusts of their sandwiches.

"Why do the pigeons move their heads like that?" Brittany asked.

"They're plotting to get the rest of our food," answered another child feeding the pigeons.

"Pigeons were used extensively in world war one to carry secret messages. They are used to being sneaky," said a man with the other child.

There was a petting zoo on the way out. Logan waited outside as patiently as he ever did anything, meaning he was counting the seconds and wishing he had brought his laptop. Too bad there were too many people who could overhear something; he could have used the time to make a few phone calls. He sighed deeply and glanced at his watch for the fifth time in as many minutes.

Max felt like she had taken Brittany and Brandon into a minefield. How could one goat produce so much? Oh, there was a dog, too. How original. Guinea pigs, gerbils, chickens, and a couple of hamster cages completed the mini-menagerie.

A light bulb that flickered frequently in the corner caught Brandon's attention. Apparently some science minded individual had hooked up a small electric generator to the hamster wheel.

"I want one!" Brittany declared.

"Me too!" Brandon naturally added.

"They are so cute!"

"Light's cool!"

"They don't come with a light!"

"Why not?"

Eventually Max broke into the children's bickering. "Everything is sold separately, sweetie. If your mom gets you a hamster, I am sure that Uncle Logan and I can scrounge together enough parts to rig you up a generator."

"Really?" and "Promise," tumbled over each other in a familiar way that made Max smile.

"Sure, simple generator, 10 watt bulb, piece of cake!" replied Max as she read over the details of the exhibit. When she read the part about hamsters going into estrus every 3 or 4 days, she decided that maybe her life wasn't so bad.

When Max's pager went off she knew it was time to go. Logan was many wonderful things; patient was not one of them.

A tired little boy crawled up into Logan's lap. "Carry me." Logan smiled and wrapped his arms around Brandon. He was about to tell him that he had to hang on when Max started pushing. He looked up at her, slightly perturbed, but the smile she returned reminded him that sometimes it's OK to just sit back and enjoy the ride.

"I want a hamster!" Brittany reiterated. Apparently she was practicing.

"Really? Did they have hamsters in the petting zoo?" asked Logan.

"Uh-huh" Brandon said sleepily.

"And what did you learn about hamsters?" Logan looked at Max with the most amused expression. Max had no idea what to say to that.

Brittany, completely oblivious to the undercurrent in the conversation, piped up,"They turn on the light."

"Oh, really. Do they do that a lot?" Max had no idea why Logan was so …amused? happy? cheerful? …but she decided she was going to stop wondering and just go with it.

"Yeah. Max said you two could do it too." Brittany said. Logan laughed.

"Rig up a generator with a ten watt bulb to the hamster wheel. IF your mother lets you have a hamster." Max clarified quickly. Logan was still laughing. Max let out a deep sigh and joined him.

'What a gas!' Logan thought to himself as they pulled up in front of the kids' apartment.

"There were lots of animals!" Brittany exclaimed.

"Monkeys and elephants!" Brandon said.

"Antelopes to Zebra, they had it pretty well covered from A to Z," Max quipped as she helped the children out of the car seats. Max quickly put the car seats back into Bitsy's car along with all the baggage she had insisted they carry.

"Unca Logan, will you take us again?" Brandon asked.

"Well, I think it's your mom's turn. She hasn't had a chance to see any of the animals." Logan replied.

"Yes! You gotta come and see all the animals at the zoo!" Brittany exclaimed loudly. Bitsy just laughed.

Max climbed back in the car, mission accomplished.

"Okay, I'll see you later." Logan waved as he started the car up again.

"I want a hamster!" was followed immediately by "and a light bulb." Logan chuckled, again, and made a mental note to call Bitsy when he got home and explain.

"So, how was your day?" Max asked a too thoughtful looking Logan as they pulled away from Bitsy and the children. Something was up with Logan, and she was going to figure out what.

"Kinda surreal, actually." He smiled at her. "You ever heard of Simon and Garfunkel?"

**Fin

* * *

If you are not familiar with they lyrics to "At the Zoo" by Simon and Garfunkel then this will seem even lamer than it actually is.**

A/N: Sorry this is kind of lame. It seemed like a good idea when I said I would do it, then Maria656 wouldn't just let it go. So naturally I made her proof read it. 


End file.
